Conservatives attack ads on Iggy are doing great for fundraising…

The Liberals sent out a email solicitation yesterday, in response to the Conservative attack ads ..I have a well placed source has told me this email fundraiser has already produced “the best result of any email solicitation we have ever sent out”. Further, it would appear the Conservatives have stirred up Liberal supporters, described as “people (who) are outraged”.

Further down in Steve’s blogpost, we read a link from KNB at her blog that has Liberal MP Marlene Jennings getting quoted as saying that the negative ad campaign started by the Conservatives has done the Liberals a fundraising favor. And in comments, Steve mentions the Liberals raised 1 million $ on the first day of the quarter.

Let’s be clear; the Liberals are still a bit away from equaling the Conservatives fund raising, but even if they’re in the ballpark, that means they can be competitive during a general election, and the ability to be more flexible where funds on advertising and such are spent. Say what you will about Michael Ignatieff, but if nothing else, since Ignatieff has become Liberal leader, it has spurred the party membership to turn back on the donations spigot to the Liberal party.

The Conservatives new personal smear campaign stunt here (i.e. airing ads in Quebec that charges he uses a Parisian accent because he dislikes the Quebecois accent and holds Quebec francophones in contempt?? This against the politician who first proposed the Quebec “nation” proposal, which Harper appropriated for himself?) appears to have angered the Liberal membership into accelerating those donations.

So.. I guess we can at least thank Harper and his PMO hacks for giving the Liberal grassroots extra (financial) motivation to help the Liberal Party get him out of office.

6 comments to Conservatives attack ads on Iggy are doing great for fundraising…

I agree that we tend to vote against politicians rather than for them. I do not believe that Harper will do well in the next election, mainly because he has lost Quebec, and appears to have no strategy to get it back. However, I stand pat on my assertion that the attack ads are likely to hurt Iggy, though how much movement this will cause in numbers is not clear.

Mao used to wait patiently for “the snakes to come out of their holes” This is what Iggy has done. Consolidate his support, raise money and give Harper more rope to hang himself.

Conservatives have been poking a bear with a stick for 3(+)years now. I think that the bear is getting very angry.

It could be argued that Canadians rarely vote “for” politicians. We are more inclined to vote “against”. I think that we’ve had enough of Harper.

I think that Harper’s done. A majority is very unlikely. A reduction in Conservative seats is very likely. Even if they form another majority govt, Stephen has had enough chances to find the holy grail. This is his last chance. He will fail.

The point in running ads now is to frame issues. The science of PR is very clear and proven on this point: Regardless of the veracity of the claim, after a few months, people actually tend to forget whether or not information fed to them was reliable, or how they came to know it, and instead remember only the conclusion they came to.

This is why attack ads work, and why early framing works.

By waiting until later in the game, you are actually yielding ground, and allowing your opponent to frame himself and issues.

I’m sorry, but why should we spend ad dollars on adverts now, so early in the game? If we blow our wad on early ads and the big ads come out from the Cons later on, we’re screwed. Spend wisely and answer shrewdly.

The ads will have a negative effect on the Liberals standing in the polls unless they respond soon with a similar campaign either promoting Iggy and the LPC, or thrashing Harper more effectively. The truth is, negative ads work, and one day of rebuttal from Iggy et al will not counter weeks and months of negative framing 24/7 on TV and radio. Dion suffered terribly from this.